Have Goat Will Travel

As my blogger friend Claire said, "I have been a bad bad blogger!" and I do apologize for my absence. It's just been one of those months when time gets away and is somehow lost completely! We had a call from our wonderful goat people at Ronan Country Fibers, saying they needed their spare pasture and was there any way we could come and get T and Badger? At the same time someone turned on the Ornamental Iron Business switch, and all of a sudden my husband has way more work than he can handle. That means work on the barn comes to a screeching halt, and I do Markets and Farmwork until things get under control. The new fencing is not yet done and the new barn not yet completed, so we need to manufacture goat housing in a hurry!

But long story short, we finally got to go Goat Shopping, and ended up purchasing two lovely ladies to keep Mr. T company! Their official names are Satin and Ivory, but we have nicknamed them Sadie and Ivy, and they are pretty as they can be, although pretty shy...so I'm working on loosening them up a little. So far, as close as they will let me get, is talking through the goat feeder...and of course at that point they are being occupied by food, so are generally content!

We really did not intend to purchase the girls when we went to pick up Mr. T and Badger (famous last words!), but as fate had it, I fell in love with our two girls, mother and daughter, and so we squeezed everyone in. We were driving the Jimmy, so the ride home was a new experience, with my husband, myself, three goats and a very large dog! Here are a few pics of our adventure in "goat transport". Outside of a little poop in the door handle everything went amazingly well. I'm thinking of starting another business called "Have Goat Will Travel".

Say Cheese!

I've gotten some pretty cute goat pictures in my time, but this one takes the cake! You know, usually goats do exactly the opposite of what you want them to do (see goat post below!), but Olivia and I have what I like to think of as a special bond, so sometimes (sometimes, mind you) she and I are on the same wavelength! This morning was hectic and I was posting a new yarn, and all I needed to finish was a picture of a smiling goat. Now I have pictures of smirking goats, laughing goats, and braying goats...but not a single full tooth smile. So down I go to the goatyard all pessimistic and dripping with sarcasm and call out "Say Cheese, Olivia! Yeah, right." What does she do? She smiles! Well, I'll be damned. I think she just did it to prove me wrong, but I love her anyway...after all, who could resist that face?!

Funny thing about goats...

So this is my newest yarn, it's the color of these flowers, hence the name "Zinnias". Well I thought it would be a catchy idea to get a picture of the goat who produced the mohair eating a zinnia...simple, right? First I looked Zinnias up on the internet under "poisonous/non-poisonous plants", and no problem there. Well good. Next, I had to catch the goat. Funny thing about goats, when you have grain or just plain don't want to be bothered, they are all lovey-dovey like they haven't seen you in 5 years. But as soon as you want them to do something, forget it. If you haven't tried dosey-doing around the goat yard with a 75 pound running hairball, you haven't lived. And the worse part about catching a goat who does not want to be caught, is that they tend to be "drama queens". As soon as you catch one, they bray continually and at full lung capacity so that the entire countryside thinks you are slaughtering the poor thing! Well, we got through that part, not fun in 90 degree weather but typical, and haltered up the goat. I am not an expert photographer, and knew I had to halter her if I had a prayer of getting this shot before she ate the flowers. Next I brought out the zinnias and waited for her to gobble them up. Nothing. "Yum!" I said, encouragingly. Nothing but the chomping of dry grass. As it turns out, goats do not like zinnias, no matter how safe and nourishing they may be. This shot was actually a result of cheating. I called her name, stuffed in the zinnia and got the shot before she was able to spit it out. If nothing else I've proven I still have my dexterity, even at 50!